Sui Continues to Lay the Foundation for the Bitcoin DeFi Ecosystem

Layer 1 network Sui will support sBTC, the one-to-one “bitcoin-backed asset” from Stacks, a Bitcoin L2 network, in the coming months.

This integration will see the chain’s triple threat of high throughput, scalability and an emerging DeFi ecosystem meet the vast liquidity opportunities of Bitcoin.

As part of the integration, Sui Foundation will also become “a validator on the Stacks network.”

sBTC will arrive on Sui with the same economic properties and legal status as Bitcoin, which is crucial for enabling seamless integration into Sui’s DeFi ecosystem.

After cutting-edge developments in DeFi, parallel processing and Web3 infrastructure over the past few years, Mysten Lab, the original contributor to Sui, will launch the chain’s advanced technology for optimal sBTC integration.

Together with Stacks, Mysten Lab will open new onchain opportunities for Bitcoin’s $1.6 trillion in liquidity, preserving the asset’s native security while unlocking DeFi use cases like lending, borrowing, and trading.

The integration also marks a key moment in the growing Bitcoin DeFi sector, which is rapidly expanding with new protocols and users.

By the end of 2024, Bitcoin DeFi protocols reached $6.5 billion in total value locked (TVL) as protocols are increasingly able to deploy their liquidity across multiple chains.

Bitcoin’s intentionally conservative architecture has historically limited native DeFi, but layer-2 solutions like Stacks are expanding its utility by enabling smart contracts and decentralized applications without altering Bitcoin’s core protocol.

With Stacks, Bitcoin holders can put their BTC to work through lending, swapping, and liquid staking—all secured by the Bitcoin network.

Meanwhile, layer-1 blockchains such as Sui aim to offer high throughput and scalability for DeFi and other use cases.

Sui’s high-performance blockchain supports a DeFi ecosystem, including decentralized exchanges (DEXs), lending, and liquid staking, powered by its object-based architecture and parallel execution for fast, low-cost transactions.

With this utility now on Sui, holders will be able to repurpose their BTC and tap into Sui’s flourishing DeFi ecosystem, known for its fast, low-cost, and high-performance infrastructure.

Sui’s parallelized execution and object-centric design, which is based on the Move programming language, make it the ideal home for BTC-backed assets.

Among the top 10 chains by TVL and in the top 6 in monthly DEX volume, Sui’s DeFi ecosystem is steadily growing.

More than 10% of Sui’s total TVL is in BTC and Bitcoin-derived assets, mere months after BTC bridging and staking became available on the network.

“sBTC is the safest, most decentralized path to making Bitcoin a productive asset. Sui’s DeFi growth and powerful underlying technology make it a natural destination for sBTC. We’re excited to expand BTCfi to a top ecosystem that stands out for its utility and rate of adoption,” said Muneeb Ali, Founder of Stacks.

The upcoming sBTC integration builds on Sui’s momentum in Bitcoin DeFi. Earlier this year, Sui expanded BTCfi partnerships with Babylon, Lombard Finance, and Cubist, and welcomed SatLayer, a leading Bitcoin restaking platform.

With sBTC, developers gain access to Bitcoin liquidity through a decentralized asset that aligns with Bitcoin’s native principles.

And Sui’s high-speed, asset-first design enables developers to build more composable applications with rich asset behavior that is all backed by secure infrastructure.